Aloha Jet Crew Used Hand Signs In Screaming Wind

May 2, 1988|By United Press International

KAHULUI, HAWAII — Screaming wind forced the flight crew of the torn-open Aloha Airlines flight 243 to communicate by hand signals as they brought the Boeing 737 to a landing on one engine while terrified passengers stared at the blue sky, investigators said.

The harrowing account was related by members of the flight crew to investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board in interviews Saturday, the officials said.

Immediately after the plane lost an 18-foot section of its upper front fuselage Thursday, pilot Robert Schornstheimer took the controls from first officer Mimi Tompkins, started a descent and used spoilers to slow the airliner.

Schornstheimer then discovered the number one, or left engine, was not operating and could not be restarted, NTSB investigator Joseph Nall said at a briefing Saturday night.

''As they started a level-off, they detected the number one, or left engine, was not at power. They attempted to restart it but were unable to do so,'' Nall said.

The plane had been flying at about 24,000 feet at 320 to 340 mph on the way from Hilo to Honolulu when the upper fuselage ruptured. A flight attendant was swept out of the plane and presumed dead. Sixty-one people were injured. Seven of the injured remain in hospitals.

The rupture left 20 people with no roof over their heads, no door to the cockpit and a violent wind screaming down the center of the airliner.

The pilot told investigators the wind noise prevented conversation in the cockpit, so they used hand signals to communicate while landing the plane.

They also reported difficulty in hearing the control tower, but were able to alert them to the problem and request emergency equipment, Nall said.

Schornstheimer and Tompkins said the jetliner could not go slower than 196 mph or it would become unstable, Nall said. The plane's flaps could not be extended beyond 5 degrees for the same reason, he said.

Also, the crew had to do without a light that would indicate the landing gear in the plane's nose had been extended.

They decided to go ahead without the light and landed the plane at 196 mph, considerably faster than the normal landing speed of 155 to 160 mph.